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Thousands demand Musharraf step down in Pakistan in latest rally against leader

By Sadaqat Jan

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:09 p.m. June 7, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Thousands of lawyers, journalists and opposition activists staged a sit-in protest in the Pakistani city of Lahore, demanding President Gen. Pervez Musharraf resign for suspending a popular Supreme Court judge and enacting restrictions on the media.

Some of the 7,000 people gathered in front of the provincial assembly in Lahore shouted “Go, Musharraf, go!” while others taped their mouths shut to protest alleged government censorship.

The protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations in recent weeks against Musharraf, who critics say has become increasingly authoritarian as he seeks to extend his nearly eight years in power with a new five-year presidential term this fall.

The media have also been under pressure by the government since March, when Musharraf suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry for alleged misconduct, triggering nationwide protests by lawyers and opposition parties.

Chaudhry has challenged his suspension before the Supreme Court, and private news channels have broadcast his rallies, showing tens of thousands of people chanting slogans against Musharraf.

Critics claim Musharraf has tried to sideline the independent-minded judge in case of any legal challenges to his bid to for a new presidential term. The government has denied any political motive, with Musharraf saying he has evidence that Chaudhry abused his office.

The president's office had said Musharraf would make a televised address to the nation late Thursday, but arrangements for the taping were later canceled without explanation.

Earlier in the day, three powerful officials filed affidavits in the Supreme Court denying that Chaudhry was held against his will at Musharraf's army residence near the capital of Islamabad for several hours in March when he was ousted from his post.

Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Mian Nadeem Ijaz Ahmad also claimed that Chaudhry had regularly sought information from the spy agency about fellow judges for his own “database.”

The other two affidavits were submitted by the chief of the civilian Intelligence Bureau and Musharraf's chief of staff. They are part of the government case against a petition from Chaudhry challenging the legality of his suspension.

Authorities have warned the media, especially private television channels, to temper their coverage of the judicial crisis and avoid slights of the military or the judiciary. Musharraf passed an order this week giving a media regulator the power to seize equipment and seal the premises of offending broadcasters or distributors.

The order prompted a series of media protests, including one Thursday by about 100 reporters who chanted “We want freedom!” in front of the federal parliament.

Anwar Mahmood, a senior official at the Ministry of Information, said Thursday that the order had been suspended to allow talks between officials and media representatives. The European Union said in a statement that it welcomed the move, expressing concern that Pakistani media freedoms had suffered “setbacks.”

Meanwhile, exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose elected government was overthrown by Musharraf in 1999, blasted the president in an interview with National Public Radio on Thursday, saying he has become an autocratic ruler.

“I think Mr. Musharraf is not in the habit of taking the people of Pakistan into confidence. He acts just by himself, all alone,” Sharif said, adding he had made a “mistake” by appointing Musharraf as army chief the year before the coup.

Sharif and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have both vowed to return to Pakistan from their respective exiles ahead of elections due by the end of the year. Sharif has been living in Saudi Arabia and London, and Bhutto divides her time between London and the United Arab Emirates.

Musharraf banished Sharif for 10 years after the 1999 coup and has threatened him with arrest if he returns. On Thursday, Sharif said he was willing to run that risk.

“If we can achieve our objectives by paying the price of going into the jail, that doesn't scare me,” Sharif said. “To the contrary, I think it'll take this struggle forward. It'll take this struggle faster than we all think.”